Monday, 28 May 2012

Girl is born looking like a Boy. She tries to be a Boy. Fails, but can fake it well. She has to to try to have some kind of normal life. Later, she finds out her body isn't as male as everyone (including her) thought. She's in-between, so can live as the woman she always was, without feeling like some kind of sex pervert.
Her partner takes in her stride the fact that she married another girl, the person matters, not the physical shape, and they all live happily ever after, giving thanks that due to an unusual biological situation, two gals could have children together. Rare, but it happens.

Five years ago, when Steve and Debbie Crecelius awaited results of his kidney stone ultrasound, they weren't expecting earth-shattering news.
But what the technician told them rocked their world.
"She said, 'You're female,' " said Steve, a prominent local photographer who has worked with clients ranging from Harrison Ford to the city of Glendale.
The medical discovery that he is intersex — born with a mix of anatomical sex traits, so biological gender cannot be classified as either male or female — led to a flood of revelations that would refine and redefine their 25-year marriage.
When they got home, Debbie forced a conversation that Steve feared would cost him his wife and family.
"There's something I've always wanted to talk to you about," she said, explaining that she'd always known that he had female traits.....

No change of external appearance, just the revelation that her body wasn't completely male. That was enough.
We need to educate people, especially Trans people, to realise that Trans people aren't "sex perverts" as is the popular belief. That whether someone is classically Intersex, with a mixed reproductive anatomy, or classically Transsexual, with a mixed neurological anatomy, or even if they just have a cross-sexed gender identity due to other causes - not that any have been identified - they're who they feel they are. They don't have to pretend.

Monday, 21 May 2012

Wednesday, 16 May 2012

For only the second time I can remember, I find myself (much to my astonishment) in agreement with George Monbiot. The original and archetypical logic- and fact- free Moonbat, the man whose articles coined the word.

But even a stopped clock is right twice a day. I lampoon him not because of who or what he is, but because of his habitual careless disregard for fact and evidence.

When he has the facts on his side - not often - then it doesn't matter who expresses the idea, it only matters whether the idea is true or false. A genius can be wrong; an idiot can be right. Monbiot is neither genius nor idiot, just, um, a Moonbat.

Cultural conservatives' moral concerns about marriage are based on a view of history that is almost entirely false.

"Throughout history and in virtually all human societies marriage has always been the union of a man and a woman." So says the Coalition for Marriage, whose petition against same-sex unions in Britain has so far attracted 500,000 signatures. It's a familiar claim, and it is wrong. Dozens of societies, across many centuries, have recognised same-sex marriage. In a few cases, before the 14th century, it was even celebrated in church.

This is an example of a widespread phenomenon: myth-making by cultural conservatives about past relationships. Scarcely challenged, family values campaigners have been able to construct a history that is almost entirely false.

The earliest form of Christian marriage was a simple blessing of the newly wedded pair, in facie ecclesiae - outside the church's closed doors - to keep the pollution of lust out of God's house.

Common-law marriages were often informal. Mere cohabitation could constitute a valid marriage. Temporary trial marriages were legal up to the early 17th century in England. The church displayed remarkable reluctance to deal with the matter of marriage at all. During the Middle Ages there was no ecclesiastical definition of a valid marriage nor of any contract to validate one. In 1753 Lord Harwidke's Act made clerical blessing a requirement for legal marriage in England but the Act didn't apply to Scotland nor the colonies (ie the USA to be). …

Origen declared: "Matrimony is impure and unholy, a means of sexual passion."

St. Jerome: "The primary purpose of a man of God was to "cut down with an ax of Virginity the wood of Marriage."

St. Ambrose: "Marriage was a crime against God, because it changed the state of virginity that God gave every man and woman at birth. Marriage was prostitution of the members of Christ."

Tertullian: "Marriage was a moral crime, more dreadful than any punishment or any death." It was "obscenity," or "filth."

St. Augustine: "Marriage is a sin." Augustine also expressed disgust at feminine sexual and maternal functions. He coined the saying that birth is demonstrably accursed because every child emerges "between feces and urine."

Church customs reflected many of the above views. There wasn't a Christian sacrament of marriage until the 16th century. Catholic scholars said the wedding ceremony was "imposed on" a reluctant church. …

The Council of Trent (1545-1563) decreed that a person who even hinted that the state matrimony might be more blessed than celibacy would be declared anathema - accursed and excommunicated.

This view of marriage was reflected in the lack of any formal liturgy formulated for marriage in the early Church. No special ceremonial was devised to celebrate Christian marriage—despite the fact that the Church had produced liturgies to celebrate the Eucharist, Baptism and Confirmation. It was not important for a couple to have their nuptials blessed by a priest. People could marry by mutual agreement in the presence of witnesses.[36]

At first, the old Roman pagan rite was used by Christians, although modified superficially. The first detailed account of a Christian wedding in the West dates from the 9th century. This system, known as Spousals, persisted after the Reformation.[36]

Sunday, 13 May 2012

We looked at the labs together, and my extensive file – which includes my previous attempts to “fix” my hormone imbalance, and the HRT journey we started in June 2011. Next month it will be one year, the first time since this all started that I remained on hormone therapy for a complete year without interruption. I tried HRT before, between 2010-2011, between 2008-2009, always with an interruption for some wacked out response by my body or a doctor’s discovery of some causality which turned out to be another red herring. No one’s ever figured out why my body changed, on its own, and I’m well past the point of wanting that question answered, honestly.
So, what were the numbers? That was my main concern on this day, in addition to getting the next hormone shot. In late March, my estrogen numbers were through the roof, dangerously high, in fact. There was both a physical as well as an emotional response to that overdose, which we corrected by eliminating one medication. And just for the record, I had questioned that from the beginning, so I was glad to be right and glad to live long enough to say, I was right. Fortunately, my estrogen numbers have returned to female normal level; Testosterone remains at near zero (for nearly a year now).

“So, what does all this mean, doctor?” He rolled his stool on wheels over toward me, facing me with a serious look in his eyes. “Bottom line,” he said quietly. “Yes?” I leaned in. That’s when he said it.
“You’re female. This isn’t us pumping you full of hormones, remember: we actually had to dial back the meds. All you need right now is maintenance. I don’t know if it makes sense to change anything, given your past.”
My past. Every testosterone gel patch was like pouring oil onto the fire of estrogen coursing through my body. It not only didn’t work, it backfired. It threatened my life.
No, I have not had surgery to alter my male anatomy, but those parts have atrophied and retracted to the point that there’s an “innie” where I used to have an “outie.” My wife is grossed out by this. No sexual partner would be satisfied, if I ever wanted to have one, and if this person wanted to be with me, even if that person was a man of, shall we say, smaller stature (a partner with girly fingers like mine might be different); to truly transition I would still ultimately need surgery. Until then..peeing while standing is but a memory.-- Dawn

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Ryan McKenna always felt like a girl trapped inside a boy's body, but unlike many who suffer from gender identity disorders, Ryan didn't need surgery to become the female he believed he truly was.
As a child Ryan's mum Julie found small lumps on his chest, before a doctor said Ryan probably had high oestrogen levels, but would likely grow out of it over time.
At school, Ryan preferred hanging out with girls, and described himself as 'dress mad'.
Ryan is affected by a hormonal imbalance which can affect growth, fertility and behaviour.
The imbalance can pose serious psychological problems for those affected, but with support from loved ones, these issues can be overcome.

Sunday, 6 May 2012

Christians must seek to ensure that young people know about God and his laws. That’s why we have Catholic schools.

Christians must seek to participate in practical and loving care of the poor, sick, dying – hence Catholic hospitals and welfare agencies.

But . . . .

. . . the taxes paid by Catholics are increasingly devoted to abolishing exactly those activities.

* * *

The day comes when any homosexual failing to land a job that he/she sought in a Catholic school, hospital etc., will be able drag the employer endlessly through equal-opportunity tribunals, kangaroo courts etc.

The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, in a recent submission to an Attorney-General’s inquiry, called for “removal of religious exemptions to anti-discrimination laws on the basis of sexuality – particularly in relation to employment and the provision of health and community services . . . .”

Victims of Physical assault without a weapon:
32 per cent of gay males
15 per cent of females
46 per cent transgender male to females
45 per cent transgender female to males

Victims of Physical attack with a weapon, knife, bottle or stone:
12 per cent of gay males
6 per cent of lesbian females
38 per cent transgender male to females
9 per cent transgender female to males
12 per cent other

We’re aware of the Director of the Life, Marriage & Family Centre, Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, testifying in his official capacity that Intersex people are “mentally incompetent” to contract a marriage, no matter what PhDs they might possess. Attacks come in all shapes and forms.

Casualties? Yes, we know about them. Every name read out on the Transgender Day of Remembrance, over 100 this year, shot, tortured, eviscerated, even burnt at the stake. We know that this year, the toll will be higher, and then next year, likely higher still.

Senator PRATT: But what if someone is of indeterminate gender? I am unclear whether they should have the right, according to the way you would argue it, to be part of such a union.

Mr Meney : People suffering from Turner syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome and things of that ilk are typically infertile or regarded as being mentally handicapped in some way. Many things about marriage require people to have the capacity to consent to what marriage is all about, so a significant mental incapacity might be something that might mitigate against a person being able to consent to a contract of marriage. But that is true of any marriage.

Rev. Slucki : I think we are coming up against statute law, which wants to try and make provision for every eventuality, as opposed to common law, which tries to do the right thing in principle for the overwhelming majority. That is what this tried and true definition of marriage is—it for the overwhelming majority. The definition we have at the moment has worked well throughout the centuries and that is what we should stick with. Yes, there are unusual instances. But I think we get into dangers and difficulties when we try to fit every eventuality into our laws. I do not think we should do that. I think we should leave it.

Mr Meney is the Director of the Life, Marriage & Family Centre, Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, and speaking in his official capacity.

Although they are not mentally retarded, most XXY males have some degree of language impairment. As children, they often learn to speak much later than do other children and may have difficulty learning to read and write.

Mental retardation is not a feature of Turner syndrome, despite such claims in older medical textbooks. Thorough psychological studies show that these women are normal intellectually, but often have a characteristic pattern of intellectual functioning. While their verbal 10 usually is average or above, their non-verbal IQ may be considerably lower because of problems visualizing objects in relation to each other. This difficulty may show up in poor performance in math, geometry, and tasks requiring manual dexterity or sense of direction.

In other news, and contrary to "older textbooks" and the historical belief of the Catholic Church (and that of the SSPX today), the Sun does not orbit the Earth. Eppur Si Muove.

As for the Reverend Slucki, Convener, Church and Nation Committee, Presbyterian Church of Australia, had his ideology been adopted, his distinctly minority non-conforming "Church" would have remain illegitimated and unrecognised. Legally illegitimate, rather than actually, I mean. The bastardry in his testimony speaks for itself.

About Me

Actually, I am a Rocket Scientist.
Also hormonally odd (my blood has 46xy chromosomes anyway) and for most of my life, I looked male, and lived as one, trying to be the best Man a Gal could be. Anyway, in May 2005 that started changing naturally for reasons still unclear, and I'm now Zoe, not Alan : happier and more relaxed not to have to pretend any more.
UPDATE - reason now identified as the 3BHSD form of CAH.

Reviews

This blog, written by a rocket scientist, is a fascinating collection of information, both personal and scientific, regarding intersex, transsexualism and related psychosocial and psychosexual issues....It is erudite and heartfelt. Just read the posts about the passport issue. You won't know whether to laugh, weep or crawl into a ball and rock gently in a corner - an amazing person.- David---The reason I so appreciate bright, perceptive people - as opposed to ideologues whose intelligence does little to illuminate - is that they manage to both instruct and learn with a certain grace. Among such rarities in the transblogosphere is Zoe, whose direct speech and clear humanity always make her worth reading, even if one doesn’t always agree with her every conclusion.- Val---The following is a request for permission to archive your A.E.Brain blog site which we have wanted to do for several years...The Library has traditionally collected items in print, but it is also committed to preserving electronic publications of lasting cultural value....Since (1996) we have been identifying online publications and archiving those that we consider have national significance....We would like to include A.E.Brain blog site in the PANDORA Archive...-Australian National Library